How to Wash Rice, According to Someone Who Eats It Daily

A conversation with Sarah Price about how she designs her planting schemes is fascinating. She works in an unfettered way, with no specific planting plans but an intuitive sense of the plants that will work well together to form the nature-inspired compositions she is known for. Her gardens are like exquisite paintings, comprising layers of detail with a gentle succession of plants that provide interest for most of the year. This summer combination comes from Sarah’s own garden on the edge of Abergavenny. Here, she has created different areas and habitats, including a dry garden in the old walled kitchen garden.

When tapped to design a series of planters for our2024 Idea House in the Kiawah River community on Johns Island, South Carolina, plant pro Steph Green of Contained Creations in Richmond, Virginia, knew exactly what the waterfront property needed. “We wanted to create the most beautiful and biggest statement container gardens, but they needed to be durable and last a long time with minimal upkeep,” says Green. “That’s why picking evergreens or really tough perennials from the Southern Living Plant Collection was kind of the launching point for each individual design.”

If you have a large load of laundry you've been procrastinating on, I get it and let's be honest: we've all been there. But before you jump in, you may not realize some items that you should actually wash with cold water instead of hot water.

Hey GPODers!

Outdoor spiders are hard at work, devouring home and garden pests such as ants, flies, mosquitoes, aphids, and thrips. It’s estimated they kill 400 to 800 million metric tons of prey worldwide annually.“They’re generalist feeders,” says Angela Chuang, a postdoctoral research associate at the Citrus Research and Education Center at the University of Florida. “If they can capture it and it’s small enough for them to handle safely, they’ll eat it.”

Happy Monday GPODers!

Ready to tackle that big pile of laundry? Depending on what you're washing, you may want to think about running a hot water load. Many garments can be washed in hot water, laundry pros say, and below, Hyacinth Tucker, owner of The Laundry Basket LLC, highlights five types of items in particular that will benefit from this type of care.

Having a shed in your yard is great because it provides extra storage for things that you reach for often while you're outside gardening, playing yard games, and more. However, keeping some of these items in your shed actually might be doing more harm than good.

While the summer is a great time to enjoy warmer weather, it can make your home’s temperature harder to regulate. Even with the AC pumping, one common problem is a comfortable ground floor and a sweltering second floor.

Scented ‘Angel’s Trumpet' flowers (top) in Benedict Foley and Daniel Slowik's cottage garden are perfect for a night garden

You probably don’t think about your shoelaces until they’re falling apart, but you might want to start thinking about your shoes’ most unassuming feature. Giving your shoelaces a quick refresh once in a while keeps your shoes looking sparkly clean (and your whole outfit on point).

If items tend to sit in a corner of your home collecting dust for weeks or months at a time, it’s time to clear the clutter—for good.